Mumbai Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday exuded confidence that his camp would emerge victorious in a legal battle with the rebel camp led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. A Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is hearing a plea by the Uddhav Thackeray-led camp, in which the Shinde-led camp’s claim to the Election Commission about the ‘real’ Shiv Sena. But a request has been made to stop taking the decision. Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Thackeray told Shiv Sena workers of Osmanabad, I have full faith in the judiciary and we will win.
He was addressing workers at his residence Matoshree in Mumbai. Significantly, before the fall of the government in June this year, the Uddhav cabinet had approved the renaming of Osmanabad to Dharashiv. The Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government was toppled after Shinde and 39 other MLAs revolted against the Shiv Sena leadership. Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were sworn in as the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of the state respectively on June 30. The Supreme Court had on August 23 referred to a five-judge Constitution Bench the petitions filed by Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde raising several constitutional questions related to defection, merger and disqualification. It asked the Election Commission not to pass any order on the Shinde camp’s plea that it be treated as the ‘real’ Shiv Sena and given the party’s election symbol.
The bench had said that the petitions raise several important constitutional issues related to the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, including disqualification, powers of the Speaker and the Governor and judicial review. The 10th Schedule of the Constitution provides for the prevention of defection of elected and nominated members from their political parties and has stringent provisions against defection. The Thackeray camp had earlier said that party MLAs loyal to Shinde can save themselves from disqualification under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution only by merging with another political party. The Shinde camp had argued that the anti-defection law was no ground for a leader who has lost the confidence of his own party. (Language)
